Helicopter Missions_4of4_Duel in the Desert
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00:00The war on Saddam Hussein. A British attack helicopter under fire from an enemy tank it
00:11can't see. It has to use its high-tech agility to escape.
00:18It's cat and mouse, you know, I'm just trying to hide in a featureless terrain where there's
00:23nowhere to hide.
00:25The only chance for survival is to turn the tables.
00:30As soon as we saw the first explosion, I just threw the aircraft off to one side to get
00:37it away.
00:38And when the hide-and-seek is over, the final duel in the desert can begin.
01:06Baghdad, March 20, 2003. The United States launches shock and awe against the regime
01:13of Saddam Hussein. Meanwhile, British forces sweep into Iraq from the south. Their objective,
01:28the second city of Basra. 5,000 troops and up to 50 Iraqi tanks defend the southern suburbs.
01:38Hidden among buildings and palm trees, the tanks pose a lethal threat to British ground
01:45troops. In the desert south of the city, the British are in constant danger of Iraqi counter-attack.
01:53But their own heavy tanks, rushing across the desert from Kuwait, haven't reached the
01:58front line.
02:02On this first day, warplanes are preoccupied in other parts of Iraq, so a single helicopter
02:08squadron is left to provide air support for British troops. The 847th Naval Air Squadron,
02:15just 12 helicopters to stop 50 tanks.
02:23At Camp Viking, 50 miles from Basra in the Kuwaiti desert, senior pilot Andrew Clark
02:29coordinates operations.
02:30It became quite apparent that we were a bit of a thin red line trying to hold back a threat
02:39that we didn't really know the full scale of.
02:43With British reinforcements on the way, March 24th is the last chance for Iraqi tanks to
02:49counter-attack.
02:51We looked at the numbers we had. It didn't seem to be an awful lot to counter a division
02:55of armor coming our way.
03:02The day we'll see the heaviest fighting in the squadron's history. A day of reckoning
03:06for one young pilot, Lieutenant Commander Jim Newton.
03:11Jim Newton, the AP, aviation patrol commander, actually overslept. So at about four o'clock
03:17in the morning local time, I had to go and find him, wake him up.
03:21Morning, Mr. Newton.
03:23So I was woken by my very friendly senior pilot with a torch and a friendly jolt to
03:30say, come on, Scoobs, you're airborne in 20 minutes.
03:34My attack call sign is Scooby, as in Scooby-Doo, haven't got a clue. And I got it rather unfortunately
03:41for getting lost in a five ship. I was number five in a formation of five helicopters, and
03:46I got separated from the lead. It's pretty difficult to do.
03:49With 12 years training, Newton is a highly capable officer.
04:00But this will be his first time under enemy fire.
04:03The second I woke up, there is the realization that I'm here.
04:11You can hear the rounds in the distance. It's baking hot. You can see the Lynx over the
04:17road with missiles on it.
04:19The 847th Squadron's attack helicopter is the Westland Lynx, the fastest helicopter
04:30in the world and highly maneuverable. Thanks to a ground-breaking rotor system, it can
04:41execute barrel rolls and even loop-the-loop.
04:48For the assault on Basra, it's armed with four armor-piercing anti-tank missiles.
04:56The Lynx flies in tandem with a Westland Gazelle, which has no heavy weapons of its own.
05:03Its two-man crew provides extra eyes to find and identify enemy targets.
05:11Tension is high in the operations tent.
05:16Jim Newton leads the first crew into action.
05:22There is a feeling of next up to the face of the firing squad, if you like, and there
05:28were some pretty anxious faces around the camp.
05:33That walk out to the aircraft was always about thinking about the mission and thinking about
05:38what you're about to do, just playing it out in your head, how you'd react to things.
05:43Newton, as mission commander, takes the left-hand seat in the Lynx.
05:53He will navigate, operate the radios and locate the enemy in his missile sights.
06:00If necessary, he will launch the attack himself.
06:09The youthful commander is paired with one of the 847th's oldest and wisest heads.
06:15Color Sergeant Derby Allen is an unflappable pilot.
06:22After 28 years in the Royal Marines, he brings combat experience to the cockpit.
06:29I've been through all the 70s and the 80s in Northern Ireland, so I'm used to a few
06:36bombs and bullets going off around us, which, again, doesn't make you immune, but I think
06:41you know what to expect a little bit more than the guys who probably hadn't experienced
06:46it.
06:47I like to think he left me to get on with the flying and I left him to get on with the
06:52commanding.
06:54The machine gunner is Marine Lewis Harvey Jones, aka Guns, a man of few words.
07:03Big Marine, very quiet guy, quiet nature, just sat in the back, got on with the job
07:10basically.
07:12With any outfit going to war, you need a broad spectrum of characters. If you're all steady
07:18by the book, then nothing will get done. If you're all young blades out to get involved,
07:23then possibly everyone will get killed, so there needs to be a balance struck.
07:30The crew faces danger from the outset.
07:37Every desert takeoff is a blinding sandstorm.
07:41They could be killed before they even leave the ground.
07:51On his first foray into combat, Jim Newton is nervous.
08:00Fully fueled, the Lynx is at maximum fighting weight.
08:05There are heavy sand filters to protect the engine, a general purpose machine gun, and
08:10a battery of four missile launchers.
08:17To get all this weight off the ground, the rotors create a huge downwash, kicking up
08:21a dense cloud of sand.
08:24With visibility close to zero, the pilot can easily become disoriented.
08:34So in training, the modern Navy leaves the ocean for the desert.
08:41This is Watts Air Base, just outside Tucson, Arizona.
08:49Jim Newton is now one of the Navy's senior training officers.
08:54He's about to show why heat and sand call for special techniques.
09:01What we're about to do now is just take off in this dusty desert environment.
09:06On his first attempt, the pilot will try to climb straight upwards until he is clear of
09:11the sand cloud.
09:15But in the searing desert, there's a risk of blowing the engine by overheating it.
09:20On the temperature gauge, red for danger begins at 645 degrees Celsius.
09:26Two engines on the Lynx.
09:27We need to see, we need not to go over the maximum limit, which today is 645, continuous.
09:32Or 665 for a couple of minutes.
09:34And obviously, coupled with that, we've got the dust outside.
09:37So here we go.
09:42Straight up.
09:44Good reference.
09:45Power's coming in.
09:46You can see the dust cloud building in front.
09:48630, 640.
09:52The engine's about to hit maximum pressure.
09:56Power's coming in.
09:57There's 645.
09:58Come to the maximum.
09:59Power's coming in.
10:00There's 645.
10:01Come to the top.
10:02We're about 25 feet.
10:03No higher.
10:04It doesn't want to climb anymore.
10:05I'm not going to go to the top of the cloud.
10:09The pilot must abort the takeoff.
10:12The aircraft comes back down and says, I ain't going to do that.
10:17In desert heat, the Lynx doesn't have enough power to rise straight up and out.
10:24The solution is to hover just above the ground.
10:27This slows the vertical speed of the downwash, which makes the rotor blades more efficient.
10:33As if hovering on a cushion of air, the pilot moves forwards instead of up.
10:38The horizontal airflow provides extra lift to get airborne using less power.
10:45As long as you keep that cushion until you get full momentum,
10:48the aircraft will use less power than what you'd need if you went vertically.
10:53But flying straight into the cloud takes nerve.
10:59In simple terms, taking off completely blind.
11:03I am now flying over the...
11:20Camp Viking, Kuwait.
11:23Jim Newton enters the theatre of war.
11:26It was like the drawing of curtains on reality in many ways.
11:29of curtains on reality in many ways.
11:31You know, when I came through that dust cloud,
11:32I thought to myself, this is it, and this is it for real.
11:36For the first time in my life,
11:37there's a chance I possibly wouldn't come back.
11:41They have enough fuel for a 100-minute mission.
11:46But danger appears after just 15 seconds,
11:49and it isn't the Iraqis.
11:51Every weapon sensor Western allies had
11:55was trying to see who I was and what I was.
11:59American radar has locked on.
12:01The Lynx thinks it's under attack.
12:04So I had all these lights and noises through my headset
12:07telling me that there was these weapon systems
12:09locking onto me.
12:10I've got systems on the aircraft
12:12that tell people I'm a friendly aircraft.
12:14They give all sorts of information
12:16about who I am and what I'm up to.
12:19But for the best will in the world,
12:20you'd never believe they're working.
12:25Newton eventually receives clearance
12:26from the American AWACS controller.
12:29Now watch Charlie, 7 November, go.
12:35To avoid friendly fire,
12:36the Lynx and Gazelle must stay in safe air corridors.
12:40They move into formation and into Iraq.
12:47We were not hanging around.
12:48I remember we crossed the border at about 130 knots.
12:52Pilot Derby Allen heads for Basra,
12:54skimming the desert at just 30 feet
12:56to avoid enemy missile or machine gun fire.
13:01No matter how low you are, you just want to be lower
13:03because you feel totally exposed.
13:06It's a flat, barren landscape.
13:08In Jim Newton's sights,
13:10the scorched aftermath of earlier battles.
13:16You could smell the oil
13:18and you could smell the cordite in the air from explosions.
13:23I was distinctly reminded of a time
13:25when I was a young boy in Iraq.
13:27I remember the smell of gunpowder.
13:30I remember the smell of gunpowder.
13:31I remember the smell of gunpowder.
13:33I remember the smell of gunpowder.
13:35I remember the smell of gunpowder.
13:37I distinctly remember seeing my first dead soldier.
13:42It's an awful lot to take in in two minutes.
13:45Your eyes are not big enough.
13:50The border zone, 20 miles from Basra,
13:52has seen fierce Iraqi resistance.
13:55Iraqi armor, old Russian armor.
13:58It wasn't a pretty mix, if I'm honest with you.
14:02Newton knows the battle for Basra itself
14:05will be even more desperate.
14:07Up to 50 Iraqi tanks are hiding somewhere
14:10in the buildings and palm trees.
14:16If they break out and counterattack,
14:18Newton's Lynx is the only shield for frontline British troops.
14:24If a tank comes to 30 mile an hour down a road
14:28firing 12.7 rounds into Royal Marines
14:31who are lightly armed, only in Land Rovers,
14:34who are lightly armed, only in Land Rovers,
14:36the whole thing can change in a moment.
14:46The Iraqis' main battle tank is the T-55,
14:49built in the former Soviet Union.
14:54Crispin Swain is a former captain
14:56in a British tank regiment,
14:58trained to fight Russian T-55s in the days of the Cold War.
15:05The T-55 is essentially the Kalashnikov of tanks.
15:09It was designed right at the end of the Second World War
15:11and it still sees service today.
15:13And that's mainly because it's so effective.
15:19The T-55 may be an old war horse,
15:22but it still has plenty of firepower.
15:35It's heavy-caliber machine gun
15:37poses a real threat to passing helicopters.
15:42And its turret-mounted main gun
15:44can launch heavy shells several miles.
15:51But every flash of the muzzle
15:53can give away the tank's position.
15:57A good tank commander plays a deadly game
16:01of hide-and-seek.
16:07So, imagining this is the woods just outside Basra,
16:11and these are the palm trees here that I'm on the edge of,
16:16looking out across desert,
16:19and that is flat.
16:21Putting your tanks out there is essentially suicide.
16:24The enemy's got air superiority,
16:26you're waiting for the recce screen to arrive,
16:28which is small tanks supported by helicopters.
16:31Taking on the tanks, sure, that's very doable,
16:35but the helicopters, if you're seen,
16:37it's basically game over.
16:41In open desert, a tank is easy prey for the Lynx's missiles.
16:57But Iraqi commanders learned their lessons
16:59from the 1991 Gulf War.
17:03A battle-hardened veteran stays out of sight
17:06and waits for his chance to break out in force.
17:12The palm trees of southern Basra give dense cover,
17:15the suburban buildings a warren of makeshift hiding places.
17:20If you're lucky, you might have some other kind of structure
17:23that you can put over the tank,
17:25which puts out quite a big heat signature.
17:28And of course, with the battlefield being so advanced these days,
17:32your heat signature can be picked up from a great distance.
17:37Solid walls give added safety,
17:42a place for tanks to hunker down
17:44before unleashing a devastating counterattack.
17:48Out in the desert,
17:50the vulnerable British troops need air support.
17:56But above them, Jim Newton's two helicopters
17:59patrol a strictly controlled area.
18:04They have to stay inside a battle box of just one and a half miles.
18:08If they stray outside,
18:10they risk being shot down by friendly fire.
18:13Newton focuses the hunt for tanks on southern Basra, dead ahead.
18:18At this point, we're just manoeuvring around our four-kilometre box
18:21as an aviation patrol,
18:23scanning in the 12 o'clock up towards Basra.
18:31Newton checks his thermal sights, looking for a tell-tale hot engine.
18:35But the tanks are only 20 feet long,
18:37in 16 square miles of trees and buildings.
18:42After 55 minutes, more than halfway through the mission,
18:45there's no sign of any T-55s.
18:49When you're looking into the heat haze
18:51about four kilometres in front of you, maybe even more,
18:53you know, they're difficult to spot at the best of times.
18:57There's no sign of any T-55s.
18:59When you're looking into the heat haze
19:00about four kilometres in front of you, maybe even more,
19:02you know, they're difficult to spot at the best of times.
19:06Newton's attention is focused ahead,
19:08so someone has to cover the rear.
19:10Guns is tracking our six o'clock with the GPMG.
19:14I've got the gazelle as well, behind me, and the crew in that.
19:19The T-55s are too well hidden.
19:22They know the ground.
19:24They dig the tanks in.
19:26It's just the end of a barrel. It's virtually impossible.
19:34Below the links, five British Army Scimitars join the hunt.
19:40These are fast, mobile fighting vehicles,
19:42designed to flush out the enemy from their hiding places.
19:46But in a head-to-head contest,
19:48a lightweight Scimitar is no match for a T-55.
19:52The Scimitar is essentially a reconnaissance vehicle.
19:55It's not meant to engage.
19:57It has its cannon really as self-defence,
20:00but essentially it's the eyes and the ears of the commander.
20:03That's why it's out front of the main part of the army.
20:07Suddenly, the Scimitars come under fire from a T-55's machine gun.
20:12One of the guys spoke to me on the radio.
20:15I could just hear in his voice, I could hear the rounds hitting his vehicle,
20:19or at least ricochets.
20:21Now, the British soldiers fear a knockout punch from the heavyweight main gun.
20:27A T-55 round hitting the side of a, or the front even, of a Scimitar,
20:31and there really wouldn't be much left of it.
20:39At camp Viking, senior pilot Andrew Clarke fields the calls for backup.
20:44In terms of radio traffic, people would like to say they kept it calm
20:47and concise and professional,
20:50but there was an element of panic in some of the early transmissions we received.
20:56There was rounds landing all around them.
20:59I could hear his engine revving over the radio as he said to me,
21:05you need to get here and help.
21:09Newton must find the tank, then figure out the best way to destroy it.
21:14At the 847th squadron, senior pilot Andrew Clarke weighs the options.
21:21Have we got any fast jet support, fast air to attack these tanks from the air?
21:28Have we got anything on the ground that could help, any heavy artillery?
21:32That wasn't in position at that stage.
21:36Jets were all tied up, probably on the ground,
21:40Jets were all tied up, prosecuting depth targets around Baghdad,
21:44so it was apparent within a minute and a half of arriving there, that 847 was it.
21:54With no jets available, Newton must find the tank,
21:57then use his own missiles to take it out.
22:03But in the desert, there's nowhere for a helicopter to hide.
22:08Newton thinks he's the predator.
22:11In fact, he's the prey.
22:23It scares the hell out of you, it really does.
22:25That's a shell and it's landed, you know, a couple of metres away.
22:32As soon as we saw the first explosion,
22:35I just threw the aircraft off to one side to get it away,
22:38because obviously after the first one, you can expect a few more coming your way.
22:44And because you don't know where it's coming from,
22:46and you don't know when the next one's coming from, you can't see them, you can't hear them.
22:49And I was sitting there thinking, I'm going to die.
22:58For the first time in his life, Jim Newton is under fire.
23:03It was the white flash.
23:05Christ, that is just right in front of me.
23:12A hidden Iraqi tank is zeroing in on the Lynx.
23:16The chance of a direct hit from a tank on a fast-moving helicopter is not very high.
23:21But to Jim Newton, the explosions on the ground feel dangerously close.
23:26You get a big geyser of sand,
23:29then it's like someone's thrown stones over the aircraft.
23:34One moment, which I'll take to my grave,
23:37is the rounds impacting in front of the aircraft and walking towards me.
23:43To Newton's horror, the unseen wreck of the Lynx is the only thing he remembers.
23:48The rounds impacting in front of the aircraft and walking towards me.
23:53To Newton's horror, the unseen enemy appears to be tracking his flight path.
24:00When you move, the rounds impacting the sand change direction, following you.
24:05One round would land in the proximity of the aircraft,
24:08then the next one would be a lot closer,
24:10so the guy firing the rounds, he was basically bracketing us,
24:14and he was getting very good at it.
24:19Going for the kill, the tank commander switches to airburst,
24:23a massive mid-air explosion of flak.
24:29The helicopter itself is not designed to take fire and to take hits.
24:35Built for speed, the Lynx has no heavy armor.
24:40The outer skin is just a quarter of an inch of aluminum.
24:43You need fuel and weapons, you don't need armor.
24:46Our tactics are based around the fact that we were lightly protected.
24:52If they're shot down, the Iraqi battle tanks will be free to move out of Basra and into open desert.
25:01The lightly armed British ground troops face carnage.
25:06With 18 minutes of fuel before they have to return to base,
25:10the Lynx and Gazelle go into a standard evasive maneuver.
25:13The Lynx and Gazelle go into a standard evasive maneuver.
25:17So we were agile around the battlefield,
25:19and we changed our tactics to make us as small a target as possible.
25:24The tactic is called Hamster Rat, and it's supposed to work like this.
25:30Circling the battle box, the hamster radios what he sees.
25:35Right of tower, low building, clump of trees, possible target.
25:43But it's hard to tell.
25:46When he hits the front of the box, the hamster must turn away.
25:52Now the rat, a half a lap behind, picks up the search.
25:57Tower, low building, trees, tank identified.
26:06Both helicopters keep moving at high speeds, making difficult targets.
26:11Or at least that's the theory.
26:20The trouble is, in real life, they can't find the tank.
26:26Newton focuses on the most likely hiding place.
26:32The trees and buildings of southern Basra.
26:35The tank keeps up a heavy barrage.
26:41But in two whole circuits under fire,
26:43neither hamster nor rat sees any telltale muzzle flashes.
26:49Newton switches to an incredibly risky tactic, the split maneuver.
26:55So we joined up as a pair at this point.
26:57We flew towards on what we thought was a threat line,
26:59and then when we got to the top of the box,
27:01we both turned in different directions.
27:03So we're basically saying to the enemy, pick one.
27:06The lynx and gazelle head side by side for the tree line, drawing fire.
27:13When the tank commander fires at one helicopter,
27:15the other should see his muzzle flash.
27:19He chooses the lynx.
27:23The threat to him was the lynx with tow missiles.
27:25It's an anti-tank weapon,
27:27and he would know that's the threat he needs to take out first.
27:30But neither helicopter sees a thing.
27:37I'm trying to observe something that's probably over a mile,
27:40nearly two miles away with a naked eye.
27:42Never going to happen.
27:44Jim was in the sight, frantically trying to find the target.
27:48So we set up our hamster-rat technique.
27:51We'd done split maneuvers.
27:53We'd done split maneuvers.
27:55We'd done split maneuvers.
27:57Our hamster-rat technique, we'd done split maneuvers
28:00to try and get him to pick one of us, which he did.
28:03And I just couldn't see where it was coming from.
28:08They have enough fuel for 12 more minutes before they must turn back.
28:13That would leave British troops with no air support
28:16against rampaging Iraqi battle tanks.
28:22I was just about out of ideas, if I'm honest.
28:28The mysterious enemy is making full use of his biggest weapon.
28:33Home field advantage.
28:36Former tank commander Crispin Swain explains.
28:40A good tank commander will make good use of the ground.
28:47He'll have wrecked it beforehand.
28:49Maybe climbed out on foot, got his binos out.
28:52Even walked out into the desert,
28:54to look back and see what the position might look like
28:57from out there, where the enemy's coming from.
29:02If he knows his stuff,
29:04he will have wrecked routes and other defensive positions
29:08from which he can observe and then pull forward
29:11and engage the enemy as he wishes.
29:19Once you've fired a couple of rounds,
29:21then you'd want to be changing position.
29:23Because otherwise, you're going to have everyone looking at you.
29:28So you pull back off the position,
29:30hopefully into some kind of dead ground.
29:32You then move along through the dead ground,
29:35and tanks will always try and follow dead ground.
29:38That means ground that's not going to skyline you,
29:41not going to silhouette you against the sky,
29:43because that makes a much easier target to see.
29:45Using these tactics, the elusive tank commander
29:48could be moving undetected all over southern Basra.
29:56Even though the Lynx is a fast-moving target for a tank,
29:59the pilots still feel very vulnerable.
30:02You're in a big, vibrating, noisy box
30:04that you can't hide from anybody,
30:06can be heard from miles away.
30:08You're in a big, vibrating, noisy box
30:10that you can't hide from anybody,
30:12can be heard from miles away.
30:14So you're presenting quite a big target,
30:17open target to the enemy.
30:26The only advantage you have is to keep low
30:29and to keep moving and keep moving fast.
30:39But Derby Allen has a problem.
30:41There's a limit to how fast any helicopter can go.
30:46With a fixed-wing aircraft,
30:48the fast flow of air over the wings
30:50creates the lift it needs to stay airborne.
30:54But a hovering helicopter creates lift on the spot
30:57by spinning its rotors through the air like rotating wings.
31:01It's not so simple when the helicopter's moving forward.
31:07On one side, the blade's heading into the wind,
31:10so there's a bigger airflow and more lift.
31:14But on the other side, the blade's moving with the wind,
31:17so there's much less airflow and much less lift.
31:21If the helicopter goes too fast,
31:23the imbalance sends it out of control.
31:31So the Lynx manufacturers came up with a revolutionary rotor design.
31:36This is built for speed.
31:38The blades that you've got here are composite main rotor blades.
31:41They're specifically designed for high-speed flight.
31:46The blades are advanced composites of carbon and glass fiber,
31:50tough but highly flexible.
31:54Conventional rotor hubs have hinges,
31:56allowing the blades to flap up and down.
32:01On the advancing side, where lift is higher,
32:03the rotors flap up, which reduces the lift.
32:06On the retreating side, they flap down, increasing the lift.
32:12So flapping restores the helicopter's balance.
32:17But the Lynx goes one step further.
32:19The rotor hub has no hinges.
32:23The blades are strong enough to flap just by bending,
32:26so they're highly responsive.
32:28And the tips are designed to cut through the air with maximum efficiency.
32:37The hingeless hub and advanced blades make the Lynx supremely agile.
32:44You're going to go right up to the envelope of the aircraft.
32:46I mean, we backflip the Lynx. You know, other people don't do that.
32:51In Iraq, high-speed technology gives pilot Derby Allen a fighting chance.
32:59We'd move left and right, change height as well.
33:02If you go from high to low, it's very difficult for a guy observing
33:05to actually get a range estimation on you.
33:09So you're just trying to confuse him, basically.
33:14The Lynx bucks and swoops in the confines of the battle box.
33:23Low on fuel, mission commander Jim Newton has eight minutes left
33:27to take out the Lynx.
33:29Mission commander Jim Newton has eight minutes left to take out the tank
33:32that threatens the advancing British troops.
33:35Then he has to head back to Kuwait.
33:38Very quickly, you start running out of options, but you can't.
33:41You've got to keep going. You've got to keep trying to find it.
33:43We were scanning frantically.
33:50The T-55 commander fires with everything he's got.
33:54During an engagement, the inside of a T-55 would be an extremely busy place.
34:00Hot, really cramped.
34:03There would be the commander trying to locate enemy positions
34:07through the dust, through the heat, through the smoke,
34:11through the sound of warfare.
34:17He'd be trying to engage the enemy, see where it's at,
34:21and lay the gun onto that position.
34:30At which point, the gunner takes over.
34:36And he's got more magnified sights,
34:38so he'd be able to see more clearly what the enemy target is.
34:43So all the time, the commander's thinking,
34:45have I got enough time to get another round up the spout
34:49and fire another round at the enemy,
34:51or do I move?
34:53What's the most effective thing to do?
34:55So from the commander's point of view, it's a really, really stressful time.
35:12I got the feeling, as he adjusted his rate of fire,
35:15that he figured I had seen him.
35:17Newton has fuel to hunt for just five more minutes.
35:25Jim couldn't see the target. I couldn't see the target.
35:28I was too busy trying to avoid the rounds and fly the aircraft.
35:33The guy in the back, he has that little bit of extra,
35:36and he will probably pick up what's going on outside the aircraft
35:39quicker than the guys in the front,
35:41who are obviously really preoccupied with their jobs.
35:45And the gunner just said,
35:47Boss, I've just seen a muzzle flash.
35:56And it's like someone saying, Jim, you've just won the lottery.
35:59Because it felt like that.
36:01Because a muzzle flash is what it's all about.
36:03That's what I was looking for.
36:07But Newton has a shock in store.
36:09The tank commander is not alone.
36:12But Newton has a shock in store.
36:14The tank commander isn't where he's supposed to be.
36:18Instead, he's crawled unseen through dead ground,
36:21from Basra in the north to the town of Azubayar in the west.
36:26The buildings make excellent cover.
36:29And the Lynx makes a perfect side-on target in his sights.
36:37The surprise is very much the element of the game in the desert.
36:42The tank commander had flanked us, basically.
36:46I hate to say it, but that's what he'd done.
36:48He'd obviously got out around through my 9 o'clock,
36:52my left-hand side, as I was looking, facing up towards Basra.
36:57He knew his terrain,
36:59and he knew how to fight a battle with aircraft.
37:03My dog gunner got eyes on for me.
37:06He described where he saw the muzzle flash.
37:09We manoeuvred the aircraft, turned it through 90 degrees,
37:12and I'm looking through the sights,
37:14and he's talking me on from the buildings.
37:22Just as he's talking, there's a little white flash.
37:26The muzzle flash actually was a great relief,
37:29because then I had something to focus on.
37:40The resourceful tank commander is still one step ahead.
37:46His hiding place puts Newton under immense pressure.
37:53The guy was good.
37:55It was a single-storey building,
37:57and what gave it away for me was the fact there was a small playground.
38:02The tank is on the grounds of a school.
38:06He knew our rules of engagement would prevent me firing,
38:09and he made that opportunity his own.
38:16He reversed the tank through the wall.
38:19He would then come out of the school, fire,
38:22and then go back into the school.
38:26Newton has to make sure there are no children in the area.
38:30And, of course, I'm just seeing something at huge distances
38:34for a fleeting second through smoke and heat haze.
38:38A muzzle flash, you know, am I sure?
38:43He switches to high magnification.
38:51Then the thermal sight.
38:54There's no sign of life.
38:58There's no sign of life.
39:00I can pull the trigger now, thank God.
39:02It's finally arrived. This moment can come.
39:07The final duel is about to begin.
39:20Jim Newton's helicopter is low on fuel.
39:23He has just three minutes left to destroy the Iraqi tank.
39:28His weapon, the TOW anti-tank missile, is designed to penetrate heavy armor.
39:35Maximum range, 2.3 miles,
39:38and Newton thinks the tank is just within reach.
39:48Before Newton can fire,
39:50pilot Derby Allen must bring the Lynx to a stable firing position,
39:53then hold it.
39:57So that entailed us basically slowing down,
40:00coming into more or less a static position,
40:02which isn't a nice position to be.
40:13The missile flew. Derby starts the clock and he counts.
40:18Five.
40:22As the missile fires, it spools out a fine copper filament.
40:27Newton keeps the tank in the crosshairs, directing the missile by wire.
40:31It takes 24 seconds. It's a long time.
40:34It's a long time when someone's firing at you,
40:37because I can see him, he can see me.
40:39The tank is cornered and fires another shell in desperation.
40:42At that point, I saw a muzzle flash,
40:46and I remember thinking to myself,
40:49both the rounds are going to be crossing in the air.
40:53And for a split second, I try to think, well, which one will be quicker?
40:59It's the shell.
41:04The missile is still on its way.
41:09I'm holding the crosshairs on the front of the tank.
41:11Don't forget, he's moved back into the building.
41:15And then when he'd said 24, 25,
41:19and the missile just barely flopped into the sand in front of him.
41:27There was this feeling of, like, you know, that's it.
41:31You've blown it. That's it. You've had it.
41:34And I could just feel it around.
41:38I mean, the whole bloody patrol had this kind of, you know,
41:41Christ, he's missed.
41:44Newton has misjudged the range,
41:46and now he's got one minute of fuel left.
41:52I selected another missile,
41:54and I said, well, we're going to have to go for a running chute.
41:59This time, he plans to fire on the move.
42:02Distance, two miles and closing.
42:07You present a much more difficult target if you're moving.
42:10So moving towards the target gave him a chance to calm down,
42:13assess the situation, and fall back on the training he'd had.
42:18The running shot was to shorten the distance.
42:20And if I'm honest with you, it was just to try and put this all to bed,
42:23just to get it done, to get this resolved.
42:32At the controls, Derby Allen knows
42:34he's flying straight down the barrel of the tank's main gun.
42:38It is quite disconcerting when you're running in
42:41at quite a great rate of knots towards the target
42:43that's already shooting at you,
42:45cos all you're doing is just making it easier for him, basically,
42:48as you're getting closer.
43:00I pull the action bar, pull the trigger.
43:08I just held the crosshairs on the tank the whole time
43:11and I just waited and waited and waited and just prayed.
43:19It seemed to take an eternity, and it was like frame by frame.
43:23It's how it felt.
43:29It could have only been seconds,
43:31but your senses become incredibly heightened.
43:38And it was just like a little white puff in the sight.
43:41Then the Catherine wheel,
43:43sparks coming out from under the turret.
43:49That was it.
44:02We didn't have to say anything, we just...
44:04I puffed my cheeks out, I think, and he did the same back to me,
44:07as if to say, you know, it was a bit of a close one, Jimbo.
44:16He held his hand up for me and it was visibly shaking
44:20and he said, look at my hands.
44:22And I just took his hand and I shook it
44:24and I said to him, you're doing a great job, carry on.
44:29The realisation of what he'd just done
44:31was actually starting to sink in then.
44:35And I gave a... I looked over my shoulder
44:38to give the look, I suppose, to guns.
44:45And he just kind of looked at me and said,
44:47don't bother, boss, as if it was a normal day for him.
44:53In fact, the crew's mission begins the fiercest days fighting
44:57in the history of the 847th Squadron.
45:00This sort of was a life-and-death battle.
45:03This sort of was a line in the sand for us.
45:05We knew we could get through that day, as intense as it was,
45:09so whatever else they could throw at us,
45:11we could handle just as well.
45:15After 11 days, the squadron's helicopters
45:18destroy 43 major targets around southern Basra.
45:25The only sense of elation was that we hadn't lost anyone,
45:27nobody had been shot down, nobody had been injured,
45:30and we hadn't lost any aircraft.
45:35Jim Newton comes under fire many times
45:38as the British finally win control of the city.
45:42But it's the tank commander he faced on his first combat mission
45:45he can never forget.
45:48If I could have, I probably would have said to him
45:51a huge amount of respect,
45:53because I was so close to getting shot down by him.
45:56And he fought bravely and well, I guess.
46:00I feel lucky.